Dallas Mavericks Power Rankings - 2014-15

The Mavs are the proverbial Every High Seed Wants 'Em team in the first round. Just like they were in 2011. Yet that's pretty much the only parallel you can draw between the lone championship outfit in team history and the current (older, banged-up and less-than-harmonious) Mavs.

Unless the Mavs have a 4-1 finish in store, with Chandler Parsons (knee) dinged up and little to play for with their playoff position essentially locked in, it would appear that the 2014-15 Western Conference will have to settle for six 50-win teams. Dallas, remember, was a 49-win No. 8 seed last season.

Rest assured that the sliding Mavs, for all their recent concern about Monta Ellis' play, would much prefer having Ellis in the lineup as opposed to trying to play without him as they must now. One bright spot: Chandler Parsons is shooting .483 from the field (and .421 on 3s) since the All-Star break.

It's a good thing they held off OKC at home a week ago, because the Mavs, as suggested in this space last week, look like they're at greater risk for slippage than anyone else in the West jumble from No. 3 through No. 7. The culprit? The Mavs are having effort and Monta problems.

How cathartic was Friday night's long-awaited rout of the Clippers? It was the first game in which the Mavs managed a 20-point lead in more than a month, going all the way back to Feb. 5 in Sacramento. The question has to be asked: Is Dallas in any danger of being passed up by OKC?

The Mavs' 22-16 mark since trading for Rajon Rondo reads a bit harshly on the enigmatic PG, who missed eight of those games. Dallas is 18-12 with Rondo in uniform and has suffered as much from the absences of Tyson Chandler and Chandler Parsons as Rondo's struggles (PER as a Mav of just 11.7).

Rajon Rondo might have a stronger argument in his dispute with Rick Carlisle over play-calling if Rondo had more than two double-digit assist games as a Maverick. Or if he were shooting better than 28 percent from the line as a Maverick. Dallas has really only seen Elite Rondo once: Jan. 2 at Boston.

The good news: Dallas certainly played its part in helping the West establish a new record with seven teams reaching the All-Star break at least 15 games over .500 for the first time in league history. The bad news: Dallas has one of the tougher remaining schedules and its own fair share of injuries.

The Mavs are still a troubling 3-11 against the rest of the West's top eight, but they're going to treasure No. 3 after hauling themselves out of an 11-point deficit with less than two minutes to go to topple reeling Portland. Suddenly -- somehow -- Dallas is just a game out of the No. 3 seed.

Of the 11 teams playing .600-or-better basketball, only one will have no one in the All-Star Game: Dallas. The Mavs, meanwhile, are 13-8 since acquiring Rajon Rondo, scoring seven points per 100 possessions fewer in that span but allowing 4.5 points fewer per 100 possessions.

Agonizing weekend Ls to the Bulls and Pels, in the wake of that huge MLK Day win in Memphis, have quickly dropped the Mavs to sixth in the West. But things could be way worse; Dallas appears to have dodged a major injury bullet with Tyson Chandler shaking off a knee scare in New Orleans.

The Mavs launch their 2015 with 14 of 19 on the road. Nearly halfway through that slog, Dallas is a passable 5-3 and, more importantly, hopeful that the four 3s drained Friday by the reporter-loving Dirk Nowitzki were a sign he's easing away from his December shooting percentages that were below his high standards.

Cause for concern? The Mavs aren't quite sure. They're 1-8 against the rest of the West's top eight, which certainly doesn't sound good, but six of those eight losses were on the road. Also: Dirk & Co. were 3-12 against the West's top eight after Jan. 1, 2011 ... during their title-winning season.

The Mavs were a mere 20th in defensive efficiency when Rajon Rondo arrived, allowing 105.1 points per 100 possessions. In the seven games since, Dallas has been in the upper third. P.S. Dirk Nowitzki is just 13 points shy of passing Moses Malone for seventh on the NBA's career scoring chart.

Dropping to No. 2 in offensive efficiency doesn't bother Dallas at all. Not after Sunday night's home win over Oklahoma City in which Rajon Rondo spearheaded a team scheme, without the injured Tyson Chandler, that helped hound Russell Westbrook into a 6-for-23 evening from the floor.

The Rajon Rondo trade is far more dice roll than slam dunk. But the Mavs had to do it because this is who they are. They don't build through the draft. They don't rely on free agency. They make trade gambles on distressed big names and get them playing better in Dallas than they were elsewhere.

Far more unsettling than what is now a flat-out poor 5-5 record in the presence of the committee (of one) is Dallas' 0-5 mark against top-eight teams from the West. The teams, in other words, that make it harder to get all those lobs and dunks and expose the fact that the Mavs have PG issues.

You could argue it's a bit harsh to drop the Mavs so soon after a 4-0 road trip in which Dirk Nowitzki sat out two of the games. What you probably didn't know is that Dallas is just 4-4 in the committee's presence this season, compared to 12-2 otherwise. Which was bound to influence us.

One of the most surprising developments of the season's opening month: Dallas leads the league in dunks with 110. Even harder to process: Milwaukee is next in line with a mere 91. The far more important stat is that Rick Carlisle is manufacturing more rest for Dirk than he's ever gotten.

As explosive as the Mavs have been most nights with that otherworldy offense, they're making a habit of losing in excruciating fashion. The worst of the lot was undoubtedly Saturday night's Parsons Bowl, rallying from 18 down against the Dwight-less Rockets and then throwing it away at the end.

The routs of Philly and Sota that followed Dallas' big comeback against Sacramento were such a layup drill that the Mavs best not dwell on how good the end results look. They're still 0-3 against playoff teams from last season ... with the first official Parsons Bowl looming Saturday night in Houston.

Dirk Nowitzki needs just 17 points to pass Hakeem Olajuwon for ninth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list, but you can't find a soul in the Mavs' locker room talking that up after heavy losses to the Blazers and Heat, another rash of third-quarter woes and Chandler Parsons' rough week.

Even if you think they should have won in San Antonio, it's hard to quibble too much with the Mavs' start. Dirk and Monta have it going already, Tyson Chandler looks right back at home, Dallas manufactured a nice win in New Orleans ... and please tell me you've seen the new Run DMC video.

Feeling more than safe in projecting the Mavs to return to the 50-win club after two uncharacteristic seasons in a row of missing out. Beyond that, though, I hesitate to go overboard about the West's winners of the offseason. Their preseason went well enough, too, but the conference just looks so dang deep. Again.

The Mavs had the splashiest summer of any team in the West thanks to the signing of Chandler Parsons and re-acquisition of Tyson Chandler. Yet those moves merely remind you how crazy deep the conference is, because Dallas can't be sure if it did enough to return to the top four.